


Double Double Trouble

by thequidditchpitch_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Comedy, Post War, Romance, The Quidditch Pitch: Eternity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-04-04
Updated: 2006-04-04
Packaged: 2018-10-27 09:54:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10806771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thequidditchpitch_archivist/pseuds/thequidditchpitch_archivist
Summary: When the twins' birthday rolls around this year, the whole family decides that it's about time they got a taste of their own medicine.  So, who's playing the jokes on whom?





	Double Double Trouble

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Annie, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Quidditch Pitch](http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Quidditch_Pitch), which went offline in 2015 when the hosting expired, at a time I was not able to renew it. I contacted Open Doors, hoping to preserve the archive using an old backup, and began importing these works as an Open Doors-approved project in April 2017. Open Doors e-mailed all authors about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact us using the e-mail address on [The Quidditch Pitch collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/thequidditchpitch/profile).

  
Author's notes:

This is actually the fourth chapter of a series I am writing called "The Birthday Chronicles" that is a collection of fluffy stories for various characters’ birthdays, so far: Hermione, Ginny, and Ron, and now Fred and George. It fits so perfectly into the challenge that I couldn’t resist. The rest of the story is archived at both Checkmated and Sink Into Your Eyes, so feel free to check it out there if you are interested. 

Also, the pronunciation of the girls’ names looks quite tricky, but it really isn’t. Their names are pronounced: AN-when (Anwen) and e-VON (Aoibheann) and their last name is pronounced LEN-nun (Leannan). I hope that helps make reading the story a little bit easier. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it. 

* * *

Double-Double Trouble

 

Fred and George Weasley were practically stumbling over each other as they raced about the small flat they shared above their Diagon Alley store.

"Oi, Fred. Careful, you'll make me mess up my robes."

"We wouldn't want to do that. Then you'd have to put on other robes and we wouldn't match," Fred grinned at his twin brother.

"Oh, that would be a tragedy," muttered Charlie Weasley as he lazily watched his younger brothers scurrying about. 

"It would be," George grinned. "We're doing our dragon theme."

"Yeah," Fred chimed in. "We're wearing bright green dress robes and our dragon-hide boots. You should feel right at home."

Charlie gave a wry smile. "Oh sure, I always feel at home seeing you two wearing something loud." His expression became more serious. "Look you two, I also usually see you plotting or pulling off a prank. I'm really sticking my neck out tonight setting up this date for you two. I don't want you--"

"We won't. We will be completely serious and somber," George said with a mock stern look. "Like funeral directors."

"Or worse yet," Fred added with an equally serious look, "we'll be like Ministry employees."

Charlie shook his head in frustration. "Very funny. But so far, you don't have a good record. Remember Bill and Fleur's wedding? And what you did at Ron and Hermione's wedding? I'm surprised she didn't jinx you..."

"Hey," Fred cut in, "That wasn't entirely our fault."

"True. We couldn't help that she wanted a Valentine's Day wedding." George could hardly contain a devilish grin.

"Yeah," Fred continued. "It was only natural George and I would want to help out our new sister-in-law."

Charlie gave his younger brothers a perturbed look. "Help? You turned Ron into Cupid!"

Fred and George broke out laughing as Fred defended their actions. "But he made a really cute little Cupid."

"Yeah, Fred and I even gave Ron a little bow and arrows. We couldn't help it if the little prat didn't like our gift."

"George is right. I mean, why else would Hermione want a Valentine's Day wedding other than to have her own little Cupid?"

"Right," Fred continued. "We couldn't help it if little Cupid ended up having a foul mouth. Hard to imagine such a little tyke could swear like that."

By this point, even Charlie was laughing. "Oh yeah. And the way Hermione swore. I couldn't believe it."

Fred shook his head. "I didn't think Hermione even knew some of the words she used. But she swore spectacularly. That was almost art the way she strung those words together. I'm just glad it all happened before the guests had arrived."

George nodded in agreement. "That definitely would have ruined her Head Girl image. You know, I think it was the wings on little Ronniekins that threw her over the edge."

"Nah," Fred replied with a sly grin, "I think it was Hermione's fear that her wedding night was going to be less than satisfactory."

Charlie quickly jumped back into the conversation. "See why I don't completely trust you two?"

"Yeah, but we didn’t do anything at Ginny and Harry’s wedding." Fred took on an air of indignant righteousness.

"That’s only because Ginny threatened the two of you with the Bat-Bogey 

hex and worse if you disrupted her wedding in any way," Charlie countered. 

George and Fred grinned ruefully at each other. "Well," George chuckled, "that is true. We’re not daft enough to get Ginny angry with us. Besides, we’d had enough fun the month before at Ron and Hermione’s wedding."

Charlie sighed. "Fine, just remember, you two have to behave tonight. Anwen and Aoibheann Leannan are not the silly jokes and pranks type. They're really quite serious..."

George grinned broadly. "Oh yeah, I can see how being pin-up girls can be really serious."

Fred pretended to have a hurt look. "Hey brother, they are very serious about how they entertain blokes like you and me." He pointed to several posters on the wall showing two beautiful blonde-haired, blue-eyed witches. One poster had them seductively unbuttoning the top couple of buttons of their robes; another had them flying on brooms with their hair blowing in the wind and their rippling robes showing bare thighs. Several other posters had them modeling different types of lingerie. All three stared admiringly for a moment or so until George gave Charlie a sideways glance.

"So Charlie, does your girlfriend, Caitlin, look like that?"

"Better."

George and Fred looked at each other in surprise. Fred then turned to Charlie with a skeptical expression.

"Look Charlie, I know you like her and all, but I don't know how she could be as beautiful as Anwen and Aoibheann."

" She is their older sister. And she looks a lot like them."

George nodded to Fred. "That's true. And if it wasn't for Charlie and his relationship with Caitlin, we wouldn't be about to have our dreams come true by dating the most beautiful twins in the wizarding world."

"Yeah," Charlie replied. "And that's why I want to make sure you're not going to do anything stupid."

"Don't worry," Fred said reassuringly. "What could we do wrong?" Charlie opened his mouth to respond but Fred cut him off. "Don't answer that. Look, George and I will be too busy getting to know the girls to do any of our jokes."

"That's right." George waggled his eyebrows suggestively, "You know what they say about Irish girls..."

"Yeah," Fred cut in. "Especially gorgeous Irish twins."

Charlie gave the two a stony look. "No. I don't know. What exactly do they say about Irish girls?"

Fred and George looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders and then looked back at Charlie. "We don't know. We were hoping you did," Fred answered as George burst out laughing.

For a small moment, it looked as if Charlie might laugh. However, the flicker of a smile quickly faded back to a worried expression. "We're running out of time. Please promise me you'll be gentlemen and you won't do your usual--"

"We promise," they both responded in unison.

"And," Charlie continued, not even paying attention to them, "please don't let them know about the joke shop. They will not be impressed--"

"We won't!" George cut in sounding a little exasperated. "We won't mention the joke shop. We'll be all serious and tell them what you told us to say--we're cauldron merchants."

Fred, who had just finished buttoning his dress robes, scowled in frustration. "Do we really have to say cauldrons? I feel like bleeding Percy."

"Yes," Charlie answered. "Their grandfather was a big cauldron manufacturer."

Fred continued to scowl. "Yeah, but sooner or later they're going to have to find out that we don't sell cauldrons..."

"Except for the ones that explode when they get to a certain temperature," George interjected.

"Oh yeah," Charlie groaned, "real funny."

"Still," Fred continued, "sooner or later they'll find out and then it will be tough to explain why we lied in the beginning."

"What makes you think they'll want to date the two of you again?"

"Oh thanks for the vote of confidence," George growled.

"My pleasure. Well, I’ve done everything I can. I better get to the Burrow. Remember, Mum is expecting you to pop in for birthday cake before you go on your date, so you need to hurry or you’ll be late."

Both of the twins gave a resigned sigh as Fred mumbled, "I don’t know why Mum insists on our doing the birthday thing now. I told her about our date tonight."

"You know how Mum is about birthdays. It’s not worth arguing. Just make a quick appearance, blow out the candles, and then you can leave," Charlie responded and then Disapparated. After Charlie left, the two quickly prepared to leave. Right as they got ready to Disapparate, George held up his hand.

"Wait. I was just thinking, the Leannan twins don't like pranks and joking and we have to lie and say we sell cauldrons. I don't know if we really have anything in common with them. How do we know we'll even like them?"

"Are you daft, George? They're gorgeous. They're probably the most beautiful witches in the wizarding world. We’ve been wanting to date them from the first time we saw them. Going out with them is not only our fantasy, but the fantasy of every man in the wizarding world.

"Yeah, but..."

"But what?"

"Well, like I said, Fred. What if we don't have anything in common?"

"You silly git. They won't go on a second date with us. Let's face it. We're really not even in their league. I'm sure the only reason they're going out with us is because their older sister's boyfriend asked them to."

"Um, you really think so? Do you think they know today is our birthday?"

"That's probably how Charlie got them to agree to go out with us."

George gave Fred a frustrated look. "Well, this has been a real morale booster. Thanks."

Fred gave George a big grin. "You're welcome, Forge. You can get all disappointed about our bleak future with Anwen and Aoibheann Leannan or you can do what I'm going to do. I'm going to go, have a great dinner and date with two beautiful girls and, if I'm lucky, I'm going to do some serious birthday snogging before the evening's over."

George brightened up. "Excellent idea, Gred. Let's go." 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - -

The twins arrived at the Burrow to a loud chorus of "Happy Birthday!" Practically the whole Weasley clan was seated around the large wooden kitchen table.

Molly Weasley quickly got up and retrieved a large chocolate cake with candles. "Happy birthday, boys," she beamed. She set the cake down at the end of the table, waved her wand and the candles lit. "Now, blow the candles out and we’ll all have some cake."

After the candles were blown out, Molly told Fred and George to sit down and she would cut and serve the cake. However, knowing they would soon be eating a large meal, they offered to serve the cake to the others and visit for a few minutes.

As Fred cut the cake, he grinned at both Harry and Ron. "Let me guess, you two would like extra large pieces?" Both eagerly nodded as the two served them hefty pieces of cake. For the next several minutes the twins continued to serve the cake as their siblings teased them good-naturedly about their upcoming dates.

After the twins had finished serving the cake to the others and were each eating a small sliver to placate their mother, Bill stood up and gave a summoning spell. Down the stairs came several large rolls of parchment. He caught the rolls and, grinning, stated, "I was rummaging through Fred and George’s room the other day and found a couple of interesting posters."

There were several hoots and guffaws as Bill unrolled a poster showing two young blond-haired girls with bright blue eyes silently laughing and waiving as they modeled Hogwarts uniforms. 

"Ah," George sighed appreciatively, "that was when the Leannan twins were about eleven years old. Fred and I were just positive they were going to be attending Hogwarts; especially after that advertisement appeared with them wearing the school uniforms."

"Yeah," Fred agreed. He then turned to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Anwen and Aoibheann Leannan would have been in the same year as the three of you."

"We searched the whole train several times looking for them," George finished.

"And that night," Fred continued, "we kept waiting for them to be sorted. We were hoping they would be sorted into Gryffindor. Then nothing would have stopped us from finding a way up the stairs into the girls’ dorm."

Molly pursed her lips in disapproval while Hermione scowled. She was about to say something when Ron shushed her. "Hermione, he’s kidding."

"Besides," Ginny said with a bemused expression, "they were only thirteen years old and the girls were only eleven. I doubt Fred and George would have been trying anything."

"Well, we thought about it," Fred replied sheepishly.

"I don’t think we should even go there," Charlie replied as several of the Weasleys gave Fred and George disapproving glances. He stood up and went over to the twins. You really need to be going or you’re going to be late."

As Fred and George said their goodbyes and prepared to leave, Arthur Weasley arose from the table and went over to George. "Uh, George, do you have a moment to talk?"

"Sorry, Dad. I really don’t. Can it wait until tomorrow?"

Arthur shuffled his feet, hesitated a moment, and then resignedly answered in the affirmative. By then, George had already turned to leave. Fred decided to check his hair and robes in the mirror one more time and scurried into the nearby sitting room as George followed. They were finishing their grooming when Charlie came into the room.

"You two really need to leave."

"We know, Charlie," Fred growled as the two nervously prepared to Disapparate.

Apparently sensing their nervousness, Charlie commented reassuringly, "You’ll have a great time." Almost as an after thought, he asked, "Now, you are taking them to The Dragon’s Lair up on Loch Ness, right? Anwen and Aoibheann really wanted to go there."

"Of course we are," Fred answered.

"Why do you think we’re dressed with a dragon theme?" George asked with a grin.

"Somehow," Charlie said thoughtfully, "that almost makes sense. For you two, anyway."

Fred laughed. "Well, of course it does. But it wasn’t easy getting a reservation there. Since the end of the war, going out to eat is a lot more popular. Usually there’s a three month waiting list for reservations, but the owner is a fan of our joke shop and somehow got us in."

"Great," Charlie grinned.

George turned to his elder brother. "Look, Charlie, Fred and I really appreciate your arranging this date with the Leannan sisters. This is a fantasy come true."

"Happy to do it for you. Now go." Charlie waved to the two as they Disapparated.

 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - -

By the time Fred, George and their dates arrived at The Dragon's Lair, the twins had represented themselves well to the girls' parents, and the four had unconsciously paired up with George and Anwen visiting together and Fred and Aoibheann walking hand in hand.

Like Fred and George, the Leannan sisters had also gone with a twins theme. Both were wearing blue silk dress robes with gold trimming.

The Dragon's Lair oozed ambiance with its stone walls and floors, thick-beamed ceiling and candles with different colored flames floating in the air above solid oak dining tables set with fresh linens and fine china. There were several other diners in the main dining room enjoying the delicious food and sharing quiet conversations.

Forbes, the restaurant proprietor, was a friendly, portly middle-aged wizard with graying hair. He showed the four to a table next to a large window overlooking Loch Ness. After handing menus to the couples and promising to return shortly, Forbes hurried away. As they perused the menus, Aoibheann looked at the twins appraisingly.

"So, Caitlin told us you both are in business in Diagon Alley. What exactly do you do?"

"Well," Fred looked nervously at George, "we, uh, sell cauldrons." Fred mumbled the last word.

"Really?" Anwen sounded very impressed as she turned and looked at George. "My granddad made cauldrons. His cauldrons were the Black Cat Cauldrons.

"Oh, yes." George smiled.

"Have you heard of them? They were very popular about twenty, thirty years ago."

George gave Fred a look of desperation as he hemmed and hawed. Fred jumped in. "Yes. Very well-built cauldrons. Uh, nice design."

Aoibheann looked intently into Fred's eyes. "So which cauldrons are your favorites?"

"How the hell should I know?" Fred mumbled.

"Excuse me?" Aoibheann had a surprised look on her face.

"Uh, well, I mean, uh..." Fred gave George a panicked glance as his brother tried to control his snickering. "Well, what I was trying to say was, uh, it all depends on what kind of potion you want to make in your cauldron. I mean, if you’re going to make a simple Hair-Raising Potion or Shrinking Solution, that would be different then the more difficult and longer brewing potions like Veritaserum or Polyjuice Potion. You need different cauldrons for different potions."

"Oh, that does make sense," Anwen interjected.

"It does?" Fred seemed genuinely surprised but quickly regained composure. "I mean, of course it makes sense."

"So," Anwen gave Aoibheann a sideways glance and then continued on. "If the two of you sell cauldrons, then who owns Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?"

The Weasley twins both flushed and glanced nervously at each other. George spoke first. "Oh, that place. Well, uh, it's owned by our cousins."

"Yeah," Fred agreed, "our cousins. They're kind of the black sheep of the family."

George eyed the girls thoughtfully for a moment. "Charlie told us you don’t like jokes and pranks."

"Well," Anwen replied, "it isn’t as if we don’t enjoy a joke. It’s just that we’ve had too many."

"Too many?" Fred gave her a puzzled look.

"Yes." Aoibheann smiled. "Well, some of our fans over the years have sent us different types of joke gifts as a way of getting our attention."

"You’re joking!" Fred exclaimed, his eyes bright with interest.

Both of the girls started laughing and Anwen answered, "No, we’re not joking, but some of our fans were." 

"Yeah," Aoibheann explained, "we like to think of ourselves as fun-loving and I guess some of our fans figured we’d get a good laugh out of the jokes they sent. Most of them haven’t been too bad, but there have been a few where the joke went wrong or they didn’t send us the counter-spell."

Anwen nodded in agreement. "Unfortunately for Connor, our manager, he’s had most of the jokes happen to him because he receives most of our owl posts. There was the time that we received that gel called ‘Dragon Claws’ from some bloke in Inverness. It oozed out of the package onto Connor’s hands and, for the next week, he had dragon scales up to his elbow and big claws for hands."

"That was horrible," Aoibheann said, trying to stifle a laugh as she remembered the dragon claws. 

Fred and George were also laughing as Fred asked, "Why didn’t he just use the counter charm or use the antidote for it?" 

"Well, like I said," explained Anwen, "a lot of times they forget to send the counter-spell or antidote."

"Wow," George whistled in amazement.

Anwen continued, "One of the worse jokes we got was some toffee that looked and tasted really good. We found out later it’s called Ton Tongue Toffee."

"Oh, hell!" Fred exclaimed.

"Excuse me?" Aoibheann said in surprise.

"I think," Anwen said with a wicked grin, "Fred remembers that his cousins sell that toffee." 

"Uh, yeah, that’s right," Fred managed to mumble.

"So, what happened?" George asked as Fred took an extra sip of wine.

Anwen gave an embarrassed laugh. "Oh, I don’t even want to tell you how long our tongues were before our dad figured out a counter-charm to make our tongues shrink back to normal."

"Needless to say," Aoibheann continued, "after those experiences, Connor is really careful with our owl posts and now uses fireplace tongs to open the suspicious ones."

"Why doesn’t he just use magic?" Fred wondered.

"Because, sometimes just using a spell sets the pranks off," Aoibheann answered.

They were interrupted by Ian, their waiter, who took their order. All four selected roasted duck in apricot sauce, the house specialty. Very shortly, Ian brought the first course, a tomato bisque, accompanied with hard rolls. All four were silent as they began to eat. 

After a few minutes, George spoke up. "What do you girls like to do for fun?"

Aoibheann put her soup spoon down and looked at George. "Well, Anwen enjoys riding horses and I like to dance." 

"And we both love flying and like to play Quidditch," Anwen added as she set her glass down. 

"Really?" both George and Fred said in unison. 

"Yes," Anwen answered with a broad smile. "We usually play Chasers when our family plays, but," she continued with a twinkle in her eye, "we’d love to be Beaters. We think it would be fun to whack the Bludgers at the other players."

George raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Wow, you girls have a mean streak. . . . I like that!"

Both of the girls laughed as Aoibheann explained, "The problem is, we’re not strong enough to really beat the Bludgers as hard as they need to be hit. So, we’ll just settle for being Chasers."

They were just finishing their soup when they were startled by a loud pop and Arthur Weasley Apparated in front of them. 

Both Fred and George looked at him in concern as Fred exclaimed, "Dad! What are you doing here?"

Arthur appeared uncomfortable and embarrassed to be there. "Uh, yes, well, I needed to talk with you." He smiled at Anwen and Aoibheann. "Hello, girls. Are you having an enjoyable time?"

"I'm sure they are," George cut in.

"But why are you here?" Fred finished for George.

Before Arthur could answer, the table at which the four were sitting suddenly expanded and another place setting appeared next to Anwen. Ian came bustling into the dining room. "We weren’t aware you were going to have someone else joining you, but that’s no problem. As you can see, we’ve already set another place. Will the gentleman also be having the house special?"

"What?" George asked in stunned surprise.

"No!" Fred jumped in. "He won’t be staying. Right, Dad?" Fred looked pointedly at Arthur who was now staring longingly at the hot rolls and whipped honey butter. Fred cleared his throat loudly; Arthur jumped and looked at him. Fred repeated that Arthur would not be eating with them. 

Arthur looked a little disappointed as he shook his head and said he would not be eating dinner. The extra setting immediately disappeared and the table went back to its normal size. After Ian left, George again asked his father why he was there, to which Arthur blushed and continued to seem ill at ease as he mumbled something that no one at the table was able to hear. Fred asked him to repeat what he had said and he again mumbled something unrecognizable. 

"Dad," George said in frustration, "we can't hear what you're saying. You need to say it louder."

Again Arthur spoke in a whisper, and once again no one was able to discern what he had said. 

Finally, Fred grumbled in frustration, "Oh for Merlin's sake, Dad! Will you speak up, you're interrupting our date."

"U-No-Poo!" Arthur practically yelled it and startled diners looked over at him amid whispering and some snickering among each other. Arthur covered his face with his hands. "Oh, I can't believe I just blurted that out for everyone to hear."

"Dad," George was making a conscientious effort to keep his voice low and calm as the Leannan twins did their best not to smile or laugh, "what are you talking about?"

"I took those U-No-Poo pills you and Fred sell at your store—"

"Not our store." Fred quickly cut him off.

"Yes. Yes, your store. You know, it’s those pills that make you constipated . . ."

"Yes, yes. I know what they do. It's just that we don't sell them. Our cousins who own Weasley's Wizard Wheezes sell them."

Arthur gave Fred a puzzled look. "Your cousins?"

"Yes, Dad. Our cousins." He gave George a nervous glance and George started nodding his head in agreement as Fred continued. "You know, our cousins, uh...Jack and uh...Sam. Yeah, Jack and Sam Weasley."

George gave his brother an incredulous look. "Jack and Sam?"

He was met with a defiant glare from Fred. "Yes. Jack and Sam."

"Uh, okay, whatever. Anyway Dad, why did you take those pills?"

"Well, George, several days ago I thought I was taking my vitamins and instead took some of those pills that happened to be out on the counter. And, well, I'm really getting desperate to...well..."

"Okay." Fred held up his hand to stop his father's explanation. "I think we get the picture. I hate to tell you this, Dad, but there's no counter jinx or anything that simple. The pills are just natural ingredients to make a person constipated. There's nothing you can do but eat a lot of prunes."

"Oh, your mother isn't going to be happy about this." Arthur didn't seem pleased either as he bid the girls farewell and Disapparated.

George and Fred looked at each other in frustration and turned to the girls to try their best to salvage the date. While both girls were very gracious about Arthur Weasley's visit, Aoibheann had a contemplative look. Finally she asked, "Fred, why would your father come and ask you and George about the pills if they’re your cousins’ product?"

Without batting an eye, Fred responded, "Because George had the same problem last week and our father thought he might tell him what helped him." 

Both girls started giggling as George practically yelled, "Hey!"

Fred grinned at George and said in his most soothing voice, "I know it’s personal and rather embarrassing, but we need to be honest with the girls." For his part, George was shooting dagger looks at his twin brother with an "I’ll get you back for this" expression. They were mercifully interrupted by Ian who removed the soup bowls and replaced them with Mandarin vinaigrette salad. 

As the four ate their salad, Fred looked contemplatively at Aoibheann. "One thing that George and I wondered was why you and Anwen didn’t attend Hogwarts?"

"Yeah," George jumped in. "We were really disappointed when you didn’t attend. You would have been in the same year as our younger brother, Ron, his wife, Hermione, and, of course, Harry Potter."

Fred gave George an exasperated look as Aoibheann gave a nervous laugh. "You...you actually knew who we were that long ago?"

Both George and Fred blushed and nodded. "We, uh...well, we’ve been fans of yours for quite a while," George explained.

"That’s really sweet," Anwen replied as she smiled at George.

"So, if you had attended Hogwarts, which house would you have wanted to be in?" Fred asked both of the girls.

"Well," Aoibheann said with a bemused expression, "our older brothers, Seamus and Sean, were in Hufflepuff, and our older sisters, Eilis and Caitlin, were in Ravenclaw, but I think we better say we would like to have been in Gryffindor." All four twins grinned at each other as Fred and George realized the two Leannan girls had obviously asked Charlie what house they had been in while at Hogwarts.

"What subjects did the two of you like the most?" Anwen asked as she finished her salad.

"Well," George replied, "both Fred and I really liked Charms and Transfiguration. Neither of us particularly liked Potions because of the Potions Master, but Fred has always been quite good with potions."

"So what subjects did you..." In the middle of asking his question, Fred paused and then had a puzzled expression. "Where _did_ you go to school?"

"We were tutored privately," Aoibheann answered.

"We both really wanted to go to Hogwarts, but our schedule didn’t allow us to attend," explained Anwen. "We were going various places for photo shoots, interviews and other things, so our parents decided to have us home-taught."

Fred and George were nodding their understanding when there was a loud pop and they all looked up expecting to again see Arthur. Instead, Ginny was standing there with a very angry expression on her face.

"Ginny!" both Fred and George exclaimed in surprise. Before they could ask her why she was there, the table again expanded and a place setting magically appeared. Ian again came bustling into the dining room. However, he was not even halfway across the room when both of the twins turned and told him Ginny would not be staying. He gave a little frown and turned around as several of the diners looked on in amusement. Again, the place setting disappeared and the table shrank back to its original size.

The twins turned back to their younger sister as Fred asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I think you have a good idea what I’m doing here." 

"No, we really don’t. Why are you here?" George asked in bewilderment.

"Which one of you served Harry his piece of your birthday cake?" Ginny asked, her face almost as red as her hair. Anwen and Aoibheann looked at Ginny with interest and mouthed to each other the name, Harry Potter.

"Uh, I think I did," George answered.

"Oh, so it was you, George? Were you also the one that obviously put some of that infamous Weasley's Excaliber potion in the cake?"

"Huh?"

"You know exactly what I mean, George Weasley. The potion which has the bottle stating, 'Make your own sword big, strong, and magical and impress the princess in your life.'"

Anwen and Aoibheann looked a little surprised but smiled at each other as George and Fred grinned with pride.

Fred screwed his face into what was supposed to be a serious expression. "Aaw, Ginny, is there a problem with ickle Harrykins’ sword?"

"Yes!" Ginny replied angrily. "His sword is now about two feet long and still growing."

Both Fred and George burst out laughing while Anwen's and Aoibheann's eyes went wide and their mouths dropped open. Several of the other diners who had been listening to the conversation burst out laughing. 

Ginny glanced around at the diners, blushed and then glowered at her brothers. "Laugh it up, you stupid prats. Harry is really angry. You must have poured half the bottle onto the frosting."

This comment caused a new wave of laughter from the twins as George struggled to gain enough composure to talk. "We . . . uh . . . I, I mean, yeah . . . uh, no. I didn't put anything onto that cake. Fred and I both had some of the cake and we didn't have anything happen."

Ginny suddenly got a smug expression on her face. "Well that's probably because your swords are the size of a letter opener. Harry, on the other hand, doesn't need any magical potion."

Fred and George's mirth quickly subsided and their faces reddened noticeably as several of the other diners laughed loudly and the Leannan twins' shocked gasps also turned into loud bursts of laughter. Anwen motioned to her sister and the two girls stood up.

"This might be a good moment for Aoibheann and me to go to the powder room." The twins could still hear the girls' laughter and the words "Harry Potter" as they walked down the hallway to the women's toilet. 

As soon as the girls were out of the room the twins turned on Ginny. "What are you doing?" George heatedly asked. "You're ruining our date."

"They may not even come back. They may have already Disapparated by now." Fred added angrily.

Ginny gave Fred an angry look. "Well, that would ruin your chance to snog them."

"Yes, it would," Fred glared back.

"Well, it's not my fault."

"You’re the one that brought up the stupid Excalibur potion." Fred angrily retorted.

George nodded in agreement. "Yeah. And if Harry's having problems, why didn't he just come and..."

"Think about it, George. How could he Apparate here when he's got a certain . . . appendage that’s over two feet long?"

Fred again burst out laughing in spite of Ginny's earlier insult. It was obvious she didn't appreciate his laughter.

"It's not funny, Fred."

"Yes it is Ginny. If I wasn't so frustrated at the way you barged in on our date and suggested in front of our dates that our...well, never mind. Anyway, other than that, I'd consider it really funny. And we didn't put any potion on the cake’s frosting," Fred snarled.

"Well, one of you must have done something," Ginny fumed back at her elder brother.

George angrily interrupted Ginny. "I didn't put any bloody potion on Harry's piece of cake." He turned and looked at Fred.

Fred looked at his brother in surprise. "Don't look at me. I didn't do it. You're the one that dished up Harry’s cake."

Ginny glared at the twins. "Well one of you put the potion on it. Where else would he have got it?" 

"I don’t know, Ginny. How could he have been given that potion?" Fred said with a wicked grin and then put his hand and fingers to his chin and mouth in the classic pose of one deep in thought. "Um...Ginny, is your marriage to Harry not completely satisfactory?"

Ginny growled in anger as she pulled her wand and pointed it at the twins who had reflexively drawn their own wands as a protection against any hexes she might throw at them. George stepped forward and placed a placating hand on her shoulder. "We’re kidding, Ginny. We really didn’t do it, but we’ll tell you how you can take care of Harry’s little, uh, big problem." 

Fred grinned at George’s pun and then spoke quickly as Anwen and Aoibheann came back into the dining room. "There's an antidote called 'Excalibur Antidote.' It's stored in the far left cabinet behind the counter in the joke shop. It’s in a blue bottle with a gold top. Now please, go. Let us try to save what’s left of our reputation and try to get this date back on track."

Ginny thanked him and quickly Disapparated. After she was gone, an older wizard who had been dining with his wife asked, "Is there any way I can get some of that Excalibur potion?" Fred quickly handed him one of their business cards and then shushed him as the girls came back to the table. As the twins held their chairs, the girls were still giggling about the previous conversation.

Aoibheann smiled at Fred. "So, are you done crossing swords?"

"Oh, that's bad," Fred grinned. "That sounds like something..."

"One of us would say," George finished with a laugh.

Aoibheann gave a guilty grin. "I probably shouldn't have said it, but I couldn't help it."

"That was our sister, Ginny," Fred explained as he and George helped the sisters to their seats. "And yes, she’s married to Harry Potter."

"That's what we figured," Anwen replied. "Aoibheann and I doubted you would be talking about just any bloke's...er...um...sword."

"Yeah," George replied with an uncomfortable expression, "and we usually don’t talk about Harry’s sword either--even if he is our brother-in-law."

The girls nodded in understanding and then Aoibheann turned and looked at Fred. "So, were you able to help your sister?"

"Uh, yes. We told her to go to our cousin's joke store for an antidote. John and Steve always keep antidotes in case there's a problem."

Anwen gave Fred a puzzled look. "I thought their names were Jack and Sam."

George gave a small groan and put his head in his hand while Fred, who had been in the middle of taking a sip from his wine glass, gave a loud gulp and then choked on his drink. "Uh, yes, yes. Well, Jack and Sam are their nicknames. You know, nicknames for uh, John and Steve." 

Both girls smiled and nodded while George just rolled his eyes as Ian arrived with the next course. As they began to eat their baked salmon en croute, both of the Leannan girls asked about the twins’ family. Before either Fred or George could answer, there was yet another loud pop and all four looked up to see a tall, slender witch with long, bright, rainbow-colored hair.

"Oh, this is getting ridiculous!" George practically yelled.

"Yes. Yes, zeese eese very ridiculous. Look at vhat your shampoo deed to my 'air."

George just shook his head. "Fleur, I think you mean hair."

"Zat ees vhat I said. 'Air!"

"Yeah, okay, whatever. Fleur, all I know is there is no way you got your shampoo from us. So you can't blame..."

"Uh, George," Fred hurriedly interrupted. "Um...maybe you, Fleur and I could step into the other room and offer some suggestions to help her." 

"Can't we just help her here?"

"No George, we really can't." With that the twins excused themselves and took Fleur across the dining room toward the hallway leading to the men’s and women’s toilets. As they did so, Ian once again entered to ask about the dining intentions of the latest visitor. The twins glared at him and shook their heads. He just rolled his eyes and turned back around.

As soon as the twins and Fleur were out of sight of their dates, George turned and glared at Fred. "I don't know why you had us leave our dates. We didn't have anything to do with..."

With a rare chagrined expression, Fred spoke up. "Actually I gave it to Fleur." He then gave her a frustrated look. "That was weeks ago I gave you the shampoo. Why did you use it now?"

"I was out of my regular shampoo."

George was staring at his brother in disbelief. "When did you give it to her?"

"I gave it to her at the time of Ron and Hermione's wedding. I thought it would be a gift Hermione would appreciate--to make up for the Cupid thing."

George looked thoughtfully at Fred for a moment and then nodded in agreement. "You’re right. She probably would have appreciated it."

Fleur gave both of them a puzzled look and then continued on. "Vhat are you going to do about my 'air?"

"It's okay," Fred said soothingly. "Just go to our shop and get a bottle of our special shampoo that restores hair to its natural color, shape and even restores hair for those who wash with our 'Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow' shampoo."

After Fleur had Disapparated, George gave Fred a perturbed look. "Great job. Are you sure you didn't also put Excalibur potion on Harry's piece of cake?"

"You're the one who served that piece of cake, you silly git. Now let's get back before we lose what little chance we have of still impressing the girls."

George nodded as they hurried down the hall. "Our dream date is turning into a nightmare."

As the twins turned the corner and were walking toward their dates, they saw each of them take a bite of the biscuits they were holding. All of a sudden they both turned into large canaries.

"Aaagh!" Both twins raced over to the dinner table where Anwen and Aoibheann were clucking and flapping their feathery wings in apparent amusement at each other. One of the other diners had screamed and her husband had knocked over his glass of wine while several other diners had laughed and pointed at the girls. A waiter came hurrying over to see what the commotion was.

"Where did these Canary Cremes come from?" Fred asked the waiter.

The waiter, who was cleaning up the spilled wine with his wand looked up at Fred. "Oh, a young witch with bright red hair Apparated and told the girls they were a special birthday treat for all four of you. See, some biscuits are still there."

Fred swore under his breath and George was about to say something when he was interrupted by two pops. There stood Charlie Weasley with a very pretty strawberry blond with green eyes. They both looked at Fred and George, both of whom were staring back with guilty expressions on their faces.

"Hi Fred, George. You remember Caitlin don't you? We thought we'd pop in to see how the date...is..." Charlie stopped talking as he and Caitlin had turned from the Weasley twins to see both of the Leannan twins well into molting. They were both giggling as the feathers fell off them and disappeared as they touched the floor.

Caitlin had a worried look as she asked each of her sisters if they were all right. She then turned and gave Charlie an angry glance. "I thought you promised me your brothers would behave? I told you that Anwen and Aoibheann don't like this kind of stuff. They’ve had too many jokes sent to them and they usually like to be low-key so people won't notice them and recognize who they are. I can't believe you trusted them to behave, and I can’t believe I trusted you." With that, she was gone.

Charlie, his face red with anger, turned on his brothers. "What the hell are you two doing? You promised to not..."

"We didn't," Fred protested. "Ginny gave them the Canary Cremes."

"Ginny? Why would she do something like that?"

"Because she thinks we put some Excalibur potion on Harry’s piece of cake," George answered with a frustrated grunt.

"Excaliber potion!" Charlie exclaimed. "Doesn’t that make..."

"Yes, it does," George cut in.

Charlie shook his head in disbelief. "Why did you..."

"We didn’t." It was Fred’s turn to cut in. "And we didn't give the girls the Canary Cremes. Ginny must have picked them up at the shop when she went to get the antidote and decided to play a joke on us."

"Yeah," George nodded in agreement. "It was her idea of getting us back for something we didn’t even do."

Charlie looked at both of his brothers and sighed. "Now I need to go make Caitlin believe that. I just hope she hasn't told their mum and dad. He's a great man, but if he thinks one of his daughters is in trouble--look out." With that he was gone.

The twins turned back to the table to see it had grown large enough to hold two new place settings. Ian was again walking toward the table. George practically yelled, "No, no. They’re already gone. We don’t want any more place settings." Ian muttered something under his breath, turned and went out of the dining room.

As the twins practically fell into their seats at the dining table, Anwen and Aoibheann looked concerned at Caitlin's quick departure and Charlie's comments. Anwen sighed. "Charlie's right, my dad does get carried away at times if he thinks we've been hurt or are in trouble."

The twins looked shell-shocked as the other set of twins tried to apologize. "It's okay," cooed Aoibheann, "We've really had a good time so far, although it's been a rather strange date. But still, we've had a nice evening. I mean, it's not every date that one turns into a canary. And besides, anything is better than the Ton Tongue Toffee."

Anwen looked at her sister contemplatively and then turned to George. "Yeah, if your cousins are the ones that own the joke shop, why do your family keep coming and accusing you of all those jokes?"

"Well," George began.

But Fred immediately jumped in. "I don't know, but we're really getting tired of--"

He was interrupted by Ian arriving with the main course. All four made approving comments as he set the dishes before them and they began to eat as he hurried off.

Aoibheann smiled at Fred. "This is delicious. Anwen and I are really glad you brought us here."

"We’re glad you’re enjoying yourselves--even with the interruptions." Fred gave a self-conscious grin.

"And we promise," George said as he raised his glass of wine, "there are going to be no more interruptions."

However, he was interrupted by the familiar sound of someone Apparating. All four looked up to see Hermione Granger Weasley standing there with a very cross look on her face. 

George stood up angrily as the table once again began to grow. "We don’t need anymore damned place settings, so stop expanding the bloody table."

Fred, meanwhile, turned and glared at his sister-in-law. "What?" he demanded through clenched teeth. "What do you want that can't wait until tomorrow?"

"You," Hermione practically yelled. "You two. I can't believe it. You couldn't pass up a prank even on the day of your big date with these girls. If I was a swearing person . . ."

"Oh but you are," George laughed.

"Yeah," Fred also laughed in spite of his frustration at yet another disruption. "We were all amazed you even knew some of those swear words you used at your wedding."

Hermione seemed nonplussed as she turned a bright shade of red and glanced at the girls, both of whom were giggling along with the twins. She gulped loudly and glared even more menacingly at Fred and George.

"I was saying," she continued through gritted teeth, "that I can’t believe you two would be playing practical jokes on the evening of your big date. Which one of you gave Ron his piece of birthday cake?"

The twins looked at each other and both shrugged their shoulders. "I guess I might have given Ron his piece of cake," Fred said hesitantly. He then got a grin on his face. "Uh, what exactly was his problem?"

"One or both of you gave Ron something that's making him itch all over. He's miserable and we can’t get rid of them."

Fred was about to respond when George suggested they go out of the dining room to talk with Hermione. There were several disappointed groans from nearby diners who obviously were enjoying the entertainment. Fred glared at the diners as George tried to shepherd the other two along. All three were stopped by Forbes who was not looking very happy.

"Look, you two," Forbes pointed his pudgy finger at the twins. "I worked you and your dates in this evening because I like your jokes products..."

"Noooo," George waved his hand to stop Forbes as both brothers glanced back at their dates to see if they had heard the restaurant proprietor. They were contentedly eating their roasted duck.

"As I was saying," Forbes continued, "I have tried to be accommodating, but you have got to stop all of these people visiting. This is beginning to annoy both the staff and guests."

"Believe me," Fred practically spat out as he gave Hermione a sideways glance, "we don’t want them here any more than you."

"We’ll try to make it better," George added. "Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’re going to get rid of this visitor as soon as possible." Hermione shot George an unhappy glance as he again tried to move them toward the hall. 

As soon as they got into the hallway leading to the toilets, George turned to Fred with an angry glance. "I thought we decided not to put the itching potion into anything today."

"So, you did put itching potion onto the cake," Hermione crowed triumphantly.

"No, we didn't," Fred answered.

"Obviously we did, although I don’t know how Fred did it." George responded at the same time as Fred. They turned and looked at each other.

"We didn't. I didn’t," Fred repeated.

"Then why is Ron itching all over?" George demanded.

"I don't know. I know we joked about doing some kind of prank earlier today since it’s April Fool's Day, but we decided we better not since we had this big date."

"You must have put it onto the cake. Why else would Ron be itching?"

"I don’t know," Fred muttered in frustration. He glanced at George who was giving him a disbelieving expression and said a little more forcefully, "I don’t know!" Fred and George glared at each other for a moment, and then Fred told Hermione where she could find an antidote in their shop. Hermione nodded a curt thanks and then Disapparated. Fred again muttered that he had not put anything on Ron’s cake and the two headed back into the dining room to find their mother talking to their dates.

Fred threw his hands up in the air in frustration. "Oh, for the love of..." 

Molly Weasley turned and shot a disapproving glance at her sons. "There you are. I've been looking for you. Your father is in a lot of discomfort and he says you told him there's nothing you can do about it."

"There isn't," Fred replied.

"Do we really have to talk about this now? We're on a date," George added.

Molly held up a small bottle with a label reading "U-No-Poo" and asked with an exasperated tone, "George, is this or is this not your bottle of ‘U-No-Poo’ pills?"

George’s face broke into a wide grin as he replied, "No, Mum. I took a few pills last week, but they’re Fred’s pills for his ongoing problem."

"Hey!" Fred yelled as both of the girls started laughing.

"Now, now, Fred," George said with an even wider smile. "I know it’s personal and rather embarrassing, but we need to be honest with the girls."

Molly was about to say something when there was a pop and Bill Weasley appeared. "Mum, Dad needs you right away." Molly put her hand to her mouth, uttered a worried gasp, and quickly Disapparated. After she had left, Bill turned on the twins yelling at them. 

"You idiots! What the hell did you tell Fleur to use on her hair? She went to your shop and got the shampoo and immediately came home and washed her hair, and...and...it all fell out."

There was an audible gasp from several diners and the twins looked up and glared at them. George then spoke. "Bill, we told Fleur specifically to get the shampoo that restores natural color, shape, even restores hair if they have used the "Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow" shampoo."

Bill slapped his forehead with his hand. "I think she got the ‘Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow’ shampoo."

"Well, then we can’t be blamed that Fleur still doesn’t know how to read simple English," Fred peevishly responded. Bill swore and George immediately stepped between the two.

"Look, Bill, Fred didn’t mean that." Fred started to open his mouth when George shot him a no nonsense glance. "We’re sorry Fleur lost her hair...did she really lose all of her hair?"

"She’s as bald as a hard boiled egg," Bill answered dejectedly. 

"Wow. Okay, we’ll get the antidote tomorrow," George offered hopefully. Bill glared at them for another moment and then muttered something about how they better for their sake. With that, he Disapparated. 

Fred and George shook their heads in frustration and then turned back to their dates who had almost finished eating. Their own dinners were sitting there, obviously cold. Both Anwen and Aoibheann were eyeing the twins suspiciously as they sat down.

"If I didn’t know better," Anwen commented as she stared searchingly into George’s troubled eyes, "I’d say your shop sells more joke items than it does cauldrons."

George was saved from responding because of two pops right next to the table. Ginny and Hermione appeared and both girls looked very angry.

"You idiots!" Ginny pointed her finger at each of them. "I gave Harry the antidote that you told me to use and it's made the problem even worse."

"No way, it couldn't have," George insisted.

"Well it did," Ginny retorted. "I just don't want to talk about it here in front of everyone."

"Why not?" commented one of the other diners in the restaurant. "We've already heard about constipation, a two foot ‘sword,’ rainbow colored hair, itching, baldness, and other interesting problems."

"Shut up!" Ginny, Hermione and the twins all said it at once. Then, before Ginny could continue, Hermione jumped in.

"You two better work on your antidotes. I got what you told me to and now Ron's itching even more."

George and Fred looked at each other in desperation and back at Anwen and Aoibheann, both of whom were finally beginning to look annoyed at the way the date was going. Their patience had apparently worn out.

George moaned, "Bloody hell, Fred, I can't believe all of this is happening at once."

Ginny snorted. "Well, you better believe it. I want the two of you to come to our house right now. Harry needs help and he's too embarrassed to come out in public."

One of the other diners piped up. "Why not? That would really make for some dinner entertainment..." He didn’t finish his comment because he was shushed by his wife as the other couple who were dining with them broke out in loud laughter.

The twins chose to ignore that outburst as Aoibheann nervously waved her hand at Ginny and the others. "I'm sorry, uh, Ginny, but Anwen and I are on a date with Fred and George. If you have problems with their cousins' products, you should go to the joke shop tomorrow and tell them."

"Cousins?" Hermione gave a bitter laugh as Ginny glared back at the two girls. "Well let me tell you . . ."

Hermione got no further because all of a sudden Charlie Weasley Apparated.

"You two are in trouble."

Fred swore under is breath as George practically yelled, "What's new, Charlie?"

Charlie motioned for the twins to follow him to the same hallway they had already visited a couple of times. "I need to talk to you alone. Come on."

Both of the twins began to protest as they looked back worriedly at their dates, who were at least visiting with Ginny and Hermione, as Charlie practically dragged them out of the room.

"I've never seen Caitlin so angry. I told you two not to do any of your jokes and use any of your products with Caitlin's sisters, and then what do we see..."

Fred held up his hand to stop Charlie from continuing. "Hold it, Charlie. George and I didn't use any of our products and we told the girls that wild story you wanted us to about our owning a cauldron store."

"Yeah," George added, "and things were going pretty well until the whole family decided to start popping in. I can't believe we let them know where we were bringing the girls."

Charlie looked appropriately chagrined. "Okay, I'm sorry about that. I can't believe they would actually interrupt your date. But right now, that's the least of your worries."

"What do you mean?" George asked.

"Anwen's and Aoibheann's father. I told you he's a really nice bloke, but if he thinks his daughters are being hurt in any way, look out." 

"And," Fred took up the train of thought, "I take it that’s what their father thinks?"

Charlie nodded. "He's really upset and will be here in a few minutes to see if they're okay. So, you need to go back out there and make sure your dates really are having a good time and then make sure nothing else happens before he gets here."

Both of the twins swore. George then commented, "We should have just been ourselves and joked and all of that. I think we would have had better luck just being ourselves than what we've had this evening."

"Yeah," Fred agreed. "We were trying to be extra good for your sake."

"What were we thinking?" George asked with a wry smile. "Usually we're not so considerate."

"And look where it got us," Fred agreed. "And, you know, I really like Aoibheann and Anwen. They're not only pretty, but, what little time we've had to visit, they seem like a lot of fun. But with their sister and dad angry with us, I doubt they’ll go out with us again after tonight."

Charlie shrugged. "Well, you can worry about that later. Right now, you want to avoid their dad making a scene in front of a lot of diners."

George was already headed back down the hall. "Right. We'll get rid of Hermione and Ginny and then turn on our legendary charm."

"And what legend would that be?" asked Charlie with a grin.

"Never mind," muttered Fred as he followed George.

The sight that met the twins’ eyes when they turned the corner into the dining room stopped them in their tracks.

There was a scene of chaos as some diners were standing and staring out an open door while others were talking loudly among themselves and a few women had covered their husbands’ eyes with their hands. The cause of the excitement was quickly obvious to the twins as they looked over at their table to find not the Leannan twins but Hermione and Ginny sitting there with smug grins. Strewn about the floor were the dress robes and assorted underclothing Anwen and Aoibheann had obviously been wearing. Ian and a couple of other waiters were talking animatedly as Forbes was pacing back and forth gesticulating wildly.

"What the hell happened?" Fred bellowed as the two raced over to the table.

"Well," Hermione stated matter-of-factly, "we put one of your potions into your dates' wine. I understand it's one of your more popular ones with boys. It's called 'Red Hot Lovers'." 

"Oh no," George put his hands to his face, "two drops makes the person think their date is irresistible. Three drops, well, let's not go there."

"Drops? You measure the potion in drops and not spoonfuls?" Ginny asked in mock horror. She then got a Cheshire cat-like grin on her face and raised her hands up in surprise. "Oops!"

Both twins looked at their sister and sister-in law in panic. "Y-you gave them more than that?" George asked as he picked up the dress robe Anwen had been wearing.

"Yep. Now you know what it's like to have something bad happen to someone you care about." Hermione showed no remorse for the prank.

Fred stooped and picked up a pair of lacy blue knickers, quickly admired them and then turned disbelievingly to his younger sister. "Ginny, they really weren't starkers were they?"

"Naked as newborn babies," crowed one older, balding male diner who obviously had enjoyed the exhibition. "But they definitely looked a lot better--ouch!" He rubbed his shoulder where his less than happy wife had hit him.

Forbes pushed forward. "What have you and your dates done to my restaurant? I can’t believe this. They actually stripped naked and ran out the door. You need to get them back before they get picked up by the Muggles."

"I can't believe this," George wailed.

"This is a nightmare," Fred agreed. 

"We're going to have to go right now to find them. Let’s hope we get them back before their father shows up." George turned to gather up the girls' clothing when all of a sudden there was a loud pop right next to the twins. They turned to see Mr. Leannan whom they had met earlier that evening.

Fred uttered a rather strong swear word as Mr. Leannan quickly surveyed the scene. His eyes were bulging as he saw the clothing strewn about the floor and George holding Anwen's dress robes. "Those are my daughters' robes." He turned and looked at Fred and spied what he was holding. In a very cold, steely voice he asked, "Are those one of my daughters' knickers you're holding?"

Fred looked down and realized he was still holding the underwear, gave an involuntary cry and shoved them into his robes' pocket. 

"Mr. Leannan, George and I can explain. This is not what it seems. We haven't..."

"We've been perfect gentlemen with your daughters," George added as he dropped Anwen's robes back onto the floor.

"Oh, I can tell," Mr. Leannan yelled. "Who knows what sordid and kinky pranks you two have been pulling on my daughters."

"We haven't," George yelled back indignantly as Charlie hurried over to shush him. 

Caitlin, who had just arrived, was worriedly asking what had happened while several of the diners were standing up and loudly saying they were leaving as they had never had such a terrible dining experience, despite the frequent humorous moments. Forbes and his staff were hurriedly rushing about trying to placate the disgruntled diners by offering them free meals while Mr. Leannan glared menacingly at Fred and George. He reached his hand into his pocket and the twins instinctively reached for their wands as the girls' father said in a loud voice, "I have only one thing to say to you two jokers--April Fools!"

Both of the twins looked at Mr. Leannan in disbelief. "What are you talking about?" Fred asked.

"It’s a joke," laughed Charlie in obvious delight, "and the joke is on you." He pulled Caitlin into a hug and she started laughing as she kissed his cheek affectionately. Ginny and Hermione were laughing loudly behind the twins and were joined by the other people in the restaurant. 

George and Fred stared at the lot of them as if they had gone mad. "You’re all nutters. We need to get out there and find Anwen and Aoibheann as quickly as we can and give them their clothes."

All of the others started laughing at them and in through the open door walked Anwen and Aoibheann. Both of them were dressed in shorts and T-shirts and they too were laughing. All of a sudden there were popping sounds all around the twins, their dates and the others in the restaurant. Arthur and Molly, Bill and Fleur, who had her usual blond hair, Ron and Harry, neither of whom looked like they were suffering, Apparated there, all laughing and making comments. In from a doorway walked Forbes, Ian, and also Mrs. Leannan, the girls’ mother. They, too, were laughing heartily. 

The twins’ eyes were wide with shock as the whole situation began to sink in and, as it did, they both broke out in loud laughter. "You were in on this?" Fred asked the girls in amazement.

Anwen and Aoibheann nodded and laughed even harder as they walked toward Fred and George. George’s mouth dropped open. "Did you plan it?"

"Not entirely," Anwen purred as she wrapped her arms around George’s waist and looked up into his eyes.

Aoibheann nodded in agreement and hugged Fred. "Charlie thought most of it up, but we definitely were in on it."

"I don’t understand," Fred said.

"Well," Aoibheann explained as the others listened, "Anwen and I have been big fans of Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes for quite awhile. We’ve ordered all kinds of your products..."

"And we really have received some prank packages from our fans," interjected Anwen. 

"Yes, we love playing practical jokes," Aoibheann added.

Fred and George grinned at each other and then glared at Charlie in mock anger. "So," George said, trying not to laugh, "they really do like..."

"Isn’t it obvious?" Aoibheann asked. "But part of the joke was to make the two of you think you had to be all proper and not mention your joke shop . . ."

"And then members of your family would keep showing up with made up problems from your products," Anwen finished chuckling.

"I might add," Aoibheann smirked playfully at Fred, "it was really fun to watch you and George sweat." Fred had a sheepish expression as Aoibheann turned and looked at Ginny. "Anwen and I didn’t know what problems your family was going to make up. Some were certainly more interesting than the others."

Ginny blushed and then grinned cheekily. "Well, it got everyone’s attention." There were several guffaws from some of the onlookers and Harry gave his wife a puzzled look.

"Uh, what are they talking about, Ginny?"

Ginny turned an even deeper shade of crimson. "I’ll tell you later, Harry.

He got a worried look on his face and muttered, "Oh, great."

"And it was a great joke," Fred said with enthusiasm. He then got an embarrassed look on his face. "But in front of all of these people you didn’t know?" 

"Since when did the two of you worry about what others might think of a prank?" asked Hermione with a matter-of-fact expression.

"Besides," Anwen giggled in delight, "you may not know everyone in the restaurant, but we do."

"What?" both of the twins asked in unison.

Caitlin explained, "They’re our friends and relatives..."

"In fact," Aoibheann cut in, "this is Connor, our manager." She pointed at the older, balding man sitting next to his wife, both of whom grinned and waved.

"They’re sitting with one of our uncles and his wife," Anwen added and waved at them. They waved back and commented on the fun they had had watching the floor show.

Caitlin pointed out several other siblings and their spouses and there was a cacophony of happy chatter among the various people as they compared notes and laughed back and forth.

It was only after a few moments of this light banter that Fred, who had seemed to be deep in thought, gave a downcast look at Aoibheann. "I just realized, if this whole date was a big practical joke, then you and Anwen weren’t really interested in going on a real date with us."

Before the girls could respond, Charlie spoke up. "Fred, George, you don’t understand. Aoibheann and Anwen have wanted to meet you for quite awhile but felt kind of strange just going into your shop and introducing themselves. When they realized I’m your brother, they asked me if there was any way I could arrange a date. That’s when I started thinking about a good practical joke . . ."

"And my sisters are always up to a practical joke," Caitlin cut in with a smile.

Both of the girls’ faces flushed lightly as they looked up at Fred and George. Aoibheann nervously cleared her throat. "It’s...um, well, it’s true. Anwen and I have wanted to meet the two of you for some time now. We were just..."

"A little embarrassed," Anwen finished with a self-conscious expression.

"So," Aoibheann paused for a moment and bit her lip nervously. "Would you and George be interested in taking us out again?"

"This time for real," Anwen added.

Fred and George looked at each other a moment and then back at the girls. "Absolutely," they both answered.

"How about tomorrow night?" Anwen asked enthusiastically.

"Sure!" George responded.

"You could even come back here," Forbes offered with a gracious sweep of his hand.

Fred and George both smiled appreciatively at Forbes, looked at each other and then Fred answered. "Thank you, Forbes, but I think..."

"...we’ll go somewhere else where no one knows where we are." George finished with a grin as he and Fred hugged Aoibheann and Anwen.


End file.
